Film – Page 2

Transtastic

Written and Edited by Halie Davis
Filmed by Taylor Kokas

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Blue, pink and white flags were printed on posters that hung up around various campuses this past spring. These colors sandwiched together, horizontally are the Transgender flag. Text on the posters promoted the premiere of a student-made documentary, Transtastic, supported by an LGBTQ resource fair.

Transtastic is the creation of ACC student, Margo De Alva. As a transgender person, she felt the urge to create something that further explains transgender than the textbook definition.

“Coming into the school semester, I was asked several times ‘why do you dress like this?’ ‘Why do you act like this?’” says De Alva. “I just wanted ACC to have a better understanding and I wanted to reach out to people who were in my situation, or are in my situation.”

After graduating from high school, De Alva attempted attending college. But, the timing was off.

“I was very, very sad for several years because I was scared to tell everybody. I didn’t even know what Transgender was. I knew I wanted to be a woman, but I didn’t know the term…I had to venture off to YouTube to even know what transgender meant.”

In recent years, the public has seen more videos, articles and events, regarding transgender people. In 2014, Laverne Cox is the first transgender person on the cover of Time Magazine. Making her public debut at the 2015 ESPYs, Caitlyn Jenner spoke for transgender children and people. That same year and the following, Jeffrey Tambor brought home an Emmy for Leading Actor in Comedy Series, Transparent. In 2016, NPR reported that 1.4 million adults identify as transgender, according to a study done by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. The highest number of reported deaths among Transgender people, occurred in 2017.
This year Cox poses for the cover of Cosmopolitan
Magazine, Scarlett Johansson apologizes and announces her withdraw from the transgender project, Rub
&
Tug, and Wisconsin is covering two of its residents’ gender confirmation surgeries.

Transgender may be a term that is confusing for the general public to understand, let alone an individual. This past summer, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that in 2019 being transgender will no longer be considered a mental illness. Often, a fake identity is created by a transgender person to try and fit into society’s standards of male and female roles.

“Dorothy [Alexander] is one of the friends who helped start everything,” De Alva says. “She met me when I was, I guess a boy. She met me and could tell something was up because of the way I acted and stuff. Like she said in [Transtastic], I would joke around about getting my nails done and she’d be like, ‘if you want to get your nails done, I’ll go with you, it’s not a big deal.’ There were times I’d try to act masculine and she’d look at me and and be like, ‘I don’t really feel like this suits you.’ She was just reminding me that ‘I think you’re a different person,’ so when I finally told her, she was like ‘I knew it all along.’”

Some of De Alva’s friends and family were accepting, but not eveyone. At 12-years-old she knew she wanted to be considered a female, but was still unsure about the ways to express herself. “I had no choice but to put on this persona of what I felt like a man or teenage boy was supposed to be, because it was very rough. I was getting picked on in school from the other boys and I remember them telling me ‘you’re such a girl, man up.’”

In her early adolescence, De Alva was living with her dad in the Rundberg area of Austin. This neighborhood is known as a rougher one to many Austinites.

From 2012-2016 Restore Rundberg was a grant received to revitalize the area. Since the funding closed, the Austin Police Department has continued extension programs throughout the area, like Summer in Rundberg to keep the neighborhood children safe when not in school. Restore Rundberg decreased property crime in the area and the city itself.

Crime rates are higher in lower income areas than high-income households, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Some neighborhoods in Austin with a median household income ranging from $7,000 to $38,000 are St. Johns (Rundberg area), North Lamar and East Riverside. Neighborhoods in Austin with a median household income range of $130,000 to $217,000 are Bee Cliffs, Bella Mar and Avery Ranch.

Like many cities, the public education provided to its residents depends on their neighborhood. According to the U.S. News & World Report’s list of Best High Schools in America, Westlake (EISD) ranked 213. Westwood (RRISD) followed up at 221 with a graduation rate of 99 and college readiness score of 72. Vandegrift (LIST) land at 339 while the top ranking AISD school is Anderson at 1,038. Schools like Lanier, Reagan and Eastside Memorial did not place in the national or state rankings. Students at the non-ranking schools live in neighborhoods like East Riverside, North Lamar and St. Johns.

“LGBTQ people are not just on the North side or by Highland.”

DeAlva attended Wooldridge Elementary School, which filters into Lanier High School. These are some of the schools associated with the Rundberg area.
“Rundberg, from my experience, wasn’t necessarily the best place to live at,” De Alva says. “The boys needed to have this role of being tough. In middle school, they were running around, talking about sports…In 2006, I remember being in middle school and LGBT was picked on. Nobody said it was ok.”

De Alva lived with a boy persona until 2015, when she became a junior in high school. At this time, De Alva has moved to the Lakeline area with her grandma. At Westwood High School she was noticing LGBT was more accepted than her previous schools. She was making friends who were openly gay or lesbian. “Their friends weren’t mean about it and they still liked them.”
De Alva was noticing a different world, where people were more accepting and open about being gay. Moreover, she did not feel the urge to live in her previous identity; the one that would mock or ignore people from the LGBT community. “If I had met [an LGBT person] when I was in Rundberg, I would have no choice but to pick on them if I had friends around…my grandma lived in this place where I could listen to how [an LGBT person] felt.”

After taking a break from school, Margo De Alva discovered acceptance in the LGBT community, friends and family. Although hesitant to begin college, Margo found a home in Student Life.

Northridge’s Student Life Coordinator, Tim Prata, assisted Margo with the creation of Transtastic. After listening to her thoughts and hopes, Prata introduced De Alva to ACC’s LGBT eQ Committee and Student Life’s YouTube series, Life4U. From there, the group took De Alva’s documentary idea and created Transtastic. Last March, Transtastic premiered after its resource fair concluded. A Q&A session was held after the documentary premiere with Margo De Alva and others featured in the Transtastic.
“My friends are accepting, so I’ve reached out to several and they have my back with things like ‘hey, I feel uncomfortable going to the bathroom, would you go with me?’ and they will.”

In the 2019 legislative session, many Texans are hoping to continue the discussion about the Bathroom Bill. This bill, defines access to public restrooms by transgender people. In 2015 the Austin City Council passed an ordinance stating that all businesses with a single-use restroom must provide gender-neutral bathrooms. Every ACC campus, with the exception of Riverside, has a family bathroom for its transgender students, faculty and staff. However, having only one single-use bathroom on a campus can be difficult for transgender people – especially if it’s in use.

“LGBTQ people are not just on the north side or by the Highland campus – we’re everywhere,” says De Alva. “There should just be more family bathrooms in general. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to hold going to the bathroom because [some business] doesn’t have it.”

Although De Alva’s goal is to live a life as Margo, she chooses not to use the women’s bathroom, even if it’s the only option. “I don’t want to go into the women’s bathroom because I don’t want to alarm females. I’m totally understanding that it can alarm everybody, so I just try to stick to the family bathrooms”

Austin businesses like Alamo Drafthouse at Mueller, Hillside Farmacy and Cheer Up Charlies offer gender-neutral bathrooms. These areas have closed-off stalls for private business and sinks to wash. CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, Tim League, says there are “no complaints at all” in an article from the Austin American Statesman.
De Alva is knowledgeable about which businesses have a restroom for her to use due to personal experience. Fortunately, her support system is able to accompany her to the restroom, if needed. “I’ve had my grandpa tell me ‘if you have to go, I’ll go in there with you and make sure no one says anything…As sweet as that is, it’s humiliating to have to go with my grandfather.”

De Alva says she doesn’t expect sweet gestures, but is thankful for the support. After revealing herself as a transgender person, she’s lost relationships but stays positive. “You’re going to have people that don’t like you no matter what, so you might as well be who you are.”

Margo De Alva plans to transform Transtastic into an event at ACC. She also hopes to open a safe area for the LGBT community to talk and relate with one another. “You know I still have not met someone who is transgender at the school, that I can reach out to. At the event, I started to see more people and they were talking to me and it was great to know that I’m not alone.”

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Film Review: Hereditary

Written by Tracy Fuller

Hereditary, the first full feature film from director Ari Aster hit theaters on June 8th. Before screenings were open to the public, it had already gained a reputation for scaring audiences beyond belief. Horror film fans are questioning how scary is Hereditary and will they be in for a treat; critics are already likening to this generation’s The Exorcist.

Eerie children, dark family secrets, dead animals, and a creepy doll’s house is a formula that will either indulge you or close your eyes. This film doesn’t come at your wits with a gentle touch. While it does manage to be subtle in many ways, it’ll stick with you through some of the visuals. This isn’t a traditional horror movie that plays on all the cinematic elements such as the musical score, color, and cheesy backstory. This film is created with an oppositional view, that could be interpreted as an intense drama film. However, Hereditary is not a horror movie that waves its hat on cheap frights either. The scenes in the film that depict on your senses and wits are not based on the expected norm methods of scaring audiences. They do come at you in ways that you will not see coming. They will play on obscenity that may leave some uncomfortable and may even lose a little sleep over.

Director Ari Aster raises some eyebrows for his debut. The writer and director asserts himself as a commanding talent right off the bat. He may not be a man with much experience, but this seems like a movie made by someone who has the ability and savvy that can only come from years of commitment to the craft. Hereditary does not exhibit itself as a debut feature in any way. Aster’s work will be watched very carefully because of this film.

And, of course, a great casting goes a long way. Hereditary has the advantage of having something interesting to explore while also boasting a fantastic cast. Gabriel Byrne (Steve) and Milly Shapiro (Charlie) merit appreciation for what they bring to the table, but there are a few remarkable performances here. For one, Alex Wolff (Peter) places himself as someone to keep your eye on. However, this movie goes to Toni Collette (Annie). This is an actress who has been doing outstanding efforts for a long time, but she’s never had the opportunity to glow like this before. Collette gives a transformative, intricate and layered execution that is as great as anything you’re likely to see this year. This film would likely have been damn solid without her, but it’s downright remarkable because of her.

Hereditary is not just a movie to see, but preferably one that should be experienced. This is not just a horror movie. It is a movie with some great acting and perfectly implemented images and moments that play on the mind. Seasoned horror fans will enjoy and appreciate the style.

Film Review: Life of the Party

Written by Tracy Fuller

Melissa McCarthy has been on a roll over the last few years, making her impact in the movie industry. Most of the films may not be the movie of the year caliber, but they are films that envoke the human heart and a massive splash of laughter. She is one of the most consistent and successful comedians working in Hollywood today. Her efforts do not stop with her newest film, Life of the Party.

One of the elements of McCarthy’s consistency is the type of particular role that she plays in a specific vein of modern comedy. Roles, where she is less occupied in making the viewers laugh out loud than it is making them taste a kind of humorous empathy with characters. She’s used a mixture of her excellent comic timing, honesty and gonzo nature massively over the last decade.

In Life of the Party, she portrays Deanna, newly divorced and remorseful that she never completed her college degree. So, seeing a chance, she registers at the same college her daughter Maddie (Molly Gordon) is attending. This presents opportunities for both problems and mother-daughter bonding.

The tone of the narrative is a common one; a woman being asked to put her life goals on hold for her husband’s success. Until he abandons her due to living a “boring” life.

As Deanna embraces fulfilling her dreams to be an archeologist, there are moments and situations where things become awkward and embarrassing, not only for her but Maddie. The story leaves plenty of opportunities for jokes and scenarios based on Deanna’s age and appearance.

Now I must admit, the beginning of the film seemed abrupt and challenging to hold traction regarding the plot. It seemed a little forced. However, it quickly corrects itself and captivates the attention of the audience.

The film comes full circle, filled with heartfelt emotion and laughs that will leave a smile on your face by the end of it. This is an enjoyable movie, and I recommend it. It has some mild nudity and minimal drug usage, so it is not for little ones. It would serve great as a date night or just a night out.

SXSW Film Review: Family

Written by Tracy Fuller

SXSW is one of the premier spots to showcase a new film coming to the big screen in North America. With this year’s festival having a record number of films premiering, there was a considerable buzz generating around Laura Steinel’s Family.

Family is a comedy-drama that focuses on a young teenager, Maddie (Byrn Vale) looking for acceptance and love – a borrowed concept from the timeless John Candy classic Uncle Buck. Kate (Taylor Schilling) is asked to take care of Maddie while her parents go out of town to care for a family member. Kate is by no means fit to watch over anyone’s child, much less herself.

Because Kate is so self-absorbed and unfiltered in every minute of her day, she does not have the first idea of how to relate to Maddie. When she does begin to listen to stories of being harassed at school, Kate can connect to it from her childhood. It is at that point the walls she has built around herself slowly begin to chip away. What was supposed to be one night watching Maddie becomes a full week. This takes Kate entirely out of her comfort zone at work, causing her to start neglecting details.

At work, Kate is known to be cutthroat, but now that she is distracted trying to care for Maddie, it begins to backfire. The more she leans towards the nurturing side, the more Kate’s calloused exterior starts to soften.

In the middle of Kate’s failed efforts, Maddie ends up going missing and finds her identity within the Juggalo family. During the search for Maddie, Kate learns that she has made her way to the Gathering of the Juggalos. The Gathering is a music festival which has gained some notoriety and continues to be a topic of discussion in today’s pop culture.

The series of events proposes a moral decision of what is more important to Kate: working on her career or building a relationship with Maddie. By the end of the movie, you will find yourself in the feels. This production was brilliantly put together and structured. It made me quite happy to see Steinel portray Juggalos at their core, which compliments the storyline so well as finding love and acceptance in each other.

One of the things I adore about this film is how that very same love and acceptance from the Juggalos is captured in this comedy gold classic. This movie captures the essence of family, not only by blood but also by bonds. I left the theater thankful for my friends. Furthermore, it was an incredible experience hanging out with Laura Steinel and the rest of the cast. I look forward to seeing this one again.

SXSW Film Review: Blockers

Written by Tracy Fuller

A New Spin On An Adult-Teen Raunchy Comedy

Blockers is an adult raunchy comedy that revolves around three high school girls who make a pact to lose their virginity on prom night. Little do they know, their parents come together to ruin their plans.

Blockers is the directing debut for Kay Cannon. Cannon pushes the strengths of its cast while capturing the different dynamics in the 3 (sets) of parents and their conflicts.

Single mom Lisa (Leslie Mann) is having denial issues with the imminent departure of her daughter Julie (Kathryn Newton) for college. Mitchell (John Cena) is a buff dad but holds some strong feminine qualities mixed with small doses of testosterone. He tries to have a bonding relationship with daughter Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) as if she was his son but wears a dress. Divorcee dad Hunter (Gideon Adlon) who has not been around since the marriage dissolved. He now recognizes the value of his relationship with daughter, Sam (Gideon Adlon) and tries to salvage it by making sure her prom night is a memorable one.

After the girls leave for prom, the parents stumble upon a confusing bit of emojis that they ultimately discover as the sex pact. All the parents set out to track them down and stop them from consummating the night.

What ensues as a crazy chase all over town cause a few disastrous events to occur. In the midst of all these events, the trio of parents finds a way to work through their dilemmas. Coincidently, as are the three girls.

Blockers is more on the rated R side of comedy. The film also balances teen humor with adult humor. I mean imagine parading through a hough naked and blindfolded chasing your partner down by their own “musk.”

The movie portrays what a typical environment is for today’s teen. They set out to have a great time. In doing so the insecurities of the parents is brought to light, something many parents today can relate. Even with the teen sex comedy, it highlights, in the end, some rethought decisions that lead to a better scenario for everyone.

This movie has the laughs, love, and appeal that make you think of American Pie or any John Hughes film.

While the talented and well-known talent casts the roles of the parents, the teens are the heart of the movie. These up and coming actresses sell their respective parts flawlessly.

The real predicament is whether the parents and the girls can make peace with the fact that everybody has to grow up. In the end, this movie has a bit of everything to keep you entertained. I was glad to see Cena’s acting get stretched. Also noting, Leslie Mann, who probably gives one of her best performances. I would see this movie again for sure.

SXSW Film Review: Ready Player One

Written by Tracy Fuller

Spielberg Captures The Heart of Life in Ready Player One

Ready Player One, the novel by Ernest Cline, on screen is a brilliant merger of the mind of Steven Spielberg and the adoption of the screenplay. Here is a film that any pop culture fanboy will cherish. With it premiering at this past year’s SXSW Film Festival, the anticipation was quite high.

“I didn’t make this movie just for gamers, I made this for everybody,” says Steven Spielberg.

The film is set in a dystopian trailer park, year 20145, in the city of Columbus. Within the trailer park stacks, characters like Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a real-life nobody, resides. In the virtual reality world, the Oasis, Watts finds himself to be more than a nobody.

The Oasis is the primary way of life in the future, providing entertainment, fantasies, ambitions, and ways to achieve a certain financial status. The Oasis is a world where gaming is life. Watts bares some remarkable friendships with some of the gaming elite in the alternative VR world. He spends most of his time living strapped into his VR headset, immersed in the Oasis.

In the Oasis, Watts is surrounded by pop culture references that have become a way of life. These references stem from game creator, the late James Halliday (Mark Rylance). Following his passing, it is announced that Halliday built one final game in the Oasis known as Anorak’s Quest. The mission calls for players to find three keys through a set of smaller objectives. Upon finding all three of Halliday’s keys, they will be granted the celebrated Easter Egg. This egg will give them full power and ownership of the Oasis and its assets in both worlds.

Watts becomes the first person to receive one of the coveted keys. In doing so, he draws the attention of legendary gamer, Art3mis (Olivia Cooke). He also becomes a mark for the Innovative Online Industries CEO Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn).

The combination of Steven Spielberg, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, and the team at Industrial Light & Magic, knock this one out of the park. Capturing the VR setting and its potential to the big screen is not an easy task. The Oasis is phenomenal; every landscape that you encounter in this film is full of pop culture references.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this film, is not the incredible visual appeal and abundant references, but also the heart that Spielberg captures in this film. The message ultimately conveys that no matter how hard you try to design an artificial life, you should not lose sight of what the real world has to offer.

Spielberg does capture Halliday’s character showing the struggle of following your heart and chasing your ambitions. Not to mention the fellowship and bonds you acquire in life. There is so much emotional overtone mixed into the story that you end up leaving the theater feeling better about life.

Film Review: Love, Simon

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Written by Ruben Hernandez

When it comes to film, many approaches on what high school looks like have been made; some more accurate than others. Love, Simon takes a classic approach to high school with aspects as parties, friends in groups of four, and even half-eating breakfast while walking out the door are all present in this film. Simon has a loving family, great friends, and is about to graduate high school. He has a fairly normal life except for a secret he’s keeping: being gay.

Simon exchanges emails with Blue, the love interest in this story who comes out anonymously through the school gossip website. Simon writes to Blue under the name “Jacques,” and though their identities are unknown to each other, they form a close bond. This bond will not only be put to the test but will also put Simon and his friends through hardships.

The journey and the emotions behind the process of coming out is one that can really put someone’s spirit and soul to the test. Love, Simon did an amazing job conveying those emotions and displaying that journey. The emotion that Nick Robinson, who plays Simon, displays and how he fulfills his character was definitely something to watch.

This nice thing about the film is that it is one of the few major LGBT films we’ve seen within the past few years, including films such as Moonlight. With the normality of being gay or likewise in today’s culture, it’s no wonder why I found this movie so relatable. It left me with a sense of simplicity, as Simon’s experience is similar to many “coming out” stories. But the complexity at the same time comes from the raw feelings and emotions that involve being gay and being comfortable expressing that to others. This movie brought the audience I was watching this with, including myself, to tears. This movie was a step in the right direction in LGBT representation and the understanding of what it means to “come out.”

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Film Review: Game Night

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Written by Tracy Fuller

Game Night is a film about competitive game-loving partiers who end up taking their game night to the extreme. It is unquestionably a piercingly hilarious film that takes things to the edge. Directed by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, and written by Mark Perez.

The main characters, Max and Annie (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams), regularly host a traditional game night at their suburban home. A wittily-edited opening montage shows that games like Pictionary, Scrabble, and charades are the framework of their relationship and drove to their marriage. The other gamers in this movie includes Ryan (Billy Magnussen), a dimwitted friend of Annie’s; Sarah (Sharon Horgan), Ryan’s much brighter date; the husband-wife duo of Kevin and Michelle (Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury); and Max’s estranged brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler), who’s a excels in ways that Max can only fantasize about.

Not only does Brooks project an image of success, but he is always one to out-do his brother, Max. So naturally, he takes over game night by inviting the gang to his mansion for an extreme version of game night. A version modeled by what is becoming more common these days, a murder mystery themed party. Things begin to take things for a roller coaster, taking the audience on consequential flips and turns, leading into straight chaos.

Brooks gets kidnapped in a home attack that everybody else thinks is just part of the game and threatened with murder if the rest do not surrender a cherished Faberge egg to a scary-voiced mastermind who’s giving them commands from afar. The rest of the crew splits up into teams and tries to unravel the mystery in their way, their paths occasionally re-crossing, only to deviate again.

The screenwriter and directors tie the storyline to the psychology of the characters and structure the film as a quest for personal as well as sequential discovery. The brothers’ mutual resentment and rivalry are relevant here, as it develops the plot. Max and Annie’s failure to superfetate a child comes into play, as do the psychologies and pasts of other game night members. A subplot about Kevin’s infatuation with solving whether Michelle was ever unfaithful to him has an immense payoff.

Game Night is a nearly perfect entertainment for adults over a certain age. There’s a daring car chase, a brutal incident that leads to improvised surgery, and a house party with echoes of the masked scene in “Eyes Wide Shut,” but it is all entwined with annotation about aging, failure, doomed romanticism and sibling rivalry. The characters put it all over with flair—especially Bateman and McAdams, who complement each other’s ideas so deftly that they do seem as if they have been married forever, and Plemons, who steals every scene he is in through deft underplaying. Also, while there are a few touching times, the film never tries to set an overly emotional tone.

Even though the movie was a bit predictable at times, it was very entertaining. This movie is the perfect film for a date night or also if you are just looking to laugh. I will probably see it again when it opens up to the public.

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SXSW Films We Want to Watch

Written by Tracy Fuller

This years film festival will highlight 132 features. The screenings are March 9th – 18th. The festival features 44 films from first-time filmmakers, 86 world premieres, plus 11 North American and 5 U.S. Premieres. Talk about a ton of movies to be screened! Imagine what it was like for the programming team, they had to watch 2,458 different films that were submitted personally by filmmakers.

Here are some films we suggest catching:

Jordan Peele’s The Last O.G. in Episodic

John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place

Kay Cannon’s Blockers in Headliners

Andrew Bujalski’s Support The Girls

Lynn Shelton’s Outside In in Narrative Spotlight

Alison Klayman’s Take Your Pills

Tommy Avallone’s The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons Learned From A Mythical Man in Documentary Spotlight

Spike Lee’s Pass Over in Festival Favorites.

Spike Lee will follow an increasing number of impressive speakers including Rian Johnson, Darren Aronofsky, and Barry Jenkins, in the nearby SXSW Conference.

Just in case you were wondering, you don’t necessarily have to have an SXSW Film badge to watch any of these films. According to the SXSW website, if seats still remain after the badges enter, single admission tickets will be sold for $15 starting 15 minutes before showtime. Tickets can be purchased from The Paramount Theatre, Vimeo Theater at the Austin Convention Center and ZACH Theatre.

The entire line-up and synopses below were presented by SXSW can be found here

ACC Drama Department’s Gloria Interview

Written by Marianna Foran

Gloria Rehersal — Nicholas Davila and Holly Palmer rehearsing

In the cozy walls of the Austin Playhouse the ACC Drama Department is rehearsing for the Spring production of Gloria by Branden Jacob Jenkins. While the cast was preparing, cast members Nicholas Davila, Remy Joslin, and Holly Palmer were able to discuss their experiences.

“This is the first show I’ve done with ACC’S theatre department and honestly as soon as I walked into the doors for the initial audition, I’m like this is where I need to be because the people are great. There is just this certain quality that most theatre companies or groups carry and it’s definitely prevalent with these people. So immediately I felt very welcomed and very natural coming in here. It wasn’t difficult getting to know these people because they’re all great people. I think it’s different to work on a show as fast as this because usually I have been given more time to work on shows, but everything is structured really well. We have a game plan at all times, so I’m not really worried about anything.” Davila, a first time ACC student, enthusiastically gushes. Joslin also found herself having a pleasant experience.

“Its given me something to do, which is nice because I just moved here from the Houston area,” says Joslin. “ So I didn’t really know anyone and the theatre department has definitely given me friends. The professional ties are cool as well.” Joslin says as she discusses the theatre department and what kind of an effect it has had on her.

The cast and I then moved onto Gloria and they all gave me a little insight on their characters in the show.

“I play three characters; Ani in the first act, Sasha in the second act first scene, and Callie in the second act second scene. All three of these people come from different general backgrounds but they all have the unifying trait that they are terrible in the way that they are two-faced.” Palmer says.

Gloria’s character, Lorin shows some of the “terrible” traits Palmer references.

“So I play Lorin in Gloria,” says Davila and the way the script puts it is that Lorin is a sad, sad, sad, sad guy. During my first entrance, my character is kind of uptight, he’s been a fact checker at this magazine company for a long time. He just turned thirty-seven so he’s very stressed out because he feels like he hasn’t gotten anywhere in life, the job just isn’t fulfilling to my character. He doesn’t really enjoy it all, so a lot of that comes out on stage with a few uncalled for outbursts. Lorin is a sad guy and it is so much fun.”

Gloria Rehearsal — Holly and Amy rehearsing

Headlining character, Gloria, has a scene that justifies her character’s terrible attitude.

“I play Gloria and Nan,” Joslin says. “Gloria, I kind of relate to a little bit because she is basically a normal person, according to the script. But she ends up in an event that makes her complex in the sense that she is still ‘normal’ but she has become the result of how people mistreated her and the negative energy towards her that has built up over time.”

Following that, Davila then gave some insight on his views on Gloria and how it may affect the audience.

“Gloria covers a topic that is kind of becoming a big issue in society. You just flip on the TV and you see it on the news all the time. So to see that on the stage and how it can just happen so quickly and take your life by storm greatly affecting everything about people’s lives. People who didn’t deserve anything, or did depending on how you view the show’s characters. Gloria captures the drama of situations like that and it puts in into perspective. Like, wow, my life today could be drastically different if one thing happens that is out of my control.”

After the more serious note of our chats, things then lightened up when the cast members told me why they were majoring in theatre. “I am majoring in theatre because I feel like its a very good art form to express the art I like,” says Joslin. “It’s like a humanistic type of approach to art, and also being expressive and all that jazz,” Joslin says.

Whereas Palmer says, “I was originally going to be a music major, because I was a singer. I am a singer, but then I got into theatre in my junior year of high school and it was like a magical process. It’s not even just acting I like, its just the whole process I like. I even told out stage manager Lindsey that if I didn’t get cast I would put my name in to be the assistant stage manager or something. I can’t imagine doing anything long term that isn’t theatre.”

“Theatre is the only thing I really feel passionate about,” Davila says thoughtfully. “When I’m not doing it I feel like I’m not fulfilled as a human so being here is good for me.”

“The ACC Drama Department’s production of Gloria will be at the Austin Playhouse February 22-March 4, 2018.”